Martina Hingis drew French Open champion Justine Henin-Hardenne yesterday for a first-round match in the Sydney International, the Swiss star's biggest test in her comeback attempt from chronic foot problems.
Hingis, sidelined for three years, is using the Sydney tournament as her final tuneup for the Australian Open, which begins Jan. 16 in Melbourne. She won the Australian Open three consecutive years from 1997 to 1999.
The fifth-seeded Henin-Hardenne, the 2004 Australian Open winner, is coming off a hamstring problem that derailed her last season after her win at Roland Garros.
PHOTO: AP
The 25-year-old Hingis won three matches in the Australian women's hardcourt championships before falling to Italy's Flavia Pennetta in the semifinals Friday.
The top four seeds -- No. 1 Kim Clijsters, No. 2 Amelsie Mauresmo, No. 3 Patty Schnyder and No. 4 Nadia Petrova -- received first-round byes. Australian star Lleyton Hewitt, a four-time Sydney winner, is the top seed in the men's event.
Also Saturday, former US Open and Wimbledon finalist Mark Philippoussis received a wild-card berth into the Australian Open. The 29-year-old Philippoussis reached the second round of the Adelaide International this week.
On Saturday in Gold Coast, Czech left-hander Lucie Safarova won her third WTA Tour title, beating Pennetta 6-3, 6-4 in the Australian women's hardcourt.
The 18-year-old Safarova beat three seeded players en route to the title -- two-time Gold Coast winner Ai Sugiyama of Japan, defending champion and No. 7 Schnyder and third-seeded Dinara Safina of Russia.
"The tennis now is about power and it's very fast," Safarova said. "I always play like that. I never wanted to just run and put the balls back."
In Auckland, New Zealand, France's Marion Bartoli won her first WTA singles title Saturday, beating Russia's Vera Zvonareva 6-2, 6-2 in the ASB Women's Classic.
"It feels awesome," Bartoli said. "When I came here from Geneva after 24 hours of flying I was so tired I felt it would be hard to put one foot in front of the other."
Also Saturday in the Adelaide International semifinals, France's Florent Serra beat second-seeded Dominik Hrbaty of Slovakia 6-3, 6-3, and Belgium's Xavier Malisse defeated sixth-seeded Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic 6-4, 6-0.
On Friday in Doha, Qatar, defending champion Roger Federer beat Germany's Tommy Haas 6-3, 6-3 in the semifinals of the Qatar Open.
The top-ranked Swiss player will face former French junior star Gael Monfils, a 6-3, 6-4 winner over Italy's Filippo Volandri.
"Obviously, he's one of the rising players and will be fired up for the big occasion," Federer said.
Monfils won his first ATP Tour title in Poland in August.
"Roger is such a great player and I can't say how excited I am to be playing the final against him," Monfils said.
On Friday in Perth, Australia, Lisa Raymond and Taylor Dent won the deciding mixed doubles against the Netherlands to give the US the Hopman Cup title.
Raymond and Dent beat Michaella Krajicek and Peter Wessels 4-6, 6-2 and 10-7 in the match tiebreaker. In singles, Krajicek beat Raymond 6-4, 7-6 (4), and Dent evened the match with a 6-1, 6-4 victory over Wessels.
In Madras, India, Belguim's Kristof Vliegen upset fourth-seeded Paradorn Srichaphan of Thailand 6-1, 6-2 on Friday to reach the Chennai Open semifinals.
Vliegen will face top-seeded Ivan Ljubicic of Croatia, a 6-1, 6-3 winner over Gilles Muller of Luxembourg 6-1, 6-3. Czech Radek Stepanek beat France's Thierry Ascione 6-3, 6-4, and third-seeded Carlos Moya of Spain edged No. 7 Bjorn Phau of Germany 6-4, 4-6, 6-1.
Jobe Bellingham on Tuesday admitted to having “anxieties” on following in brother Jude’s footsteps after joining Borussia Dortmund in the summer. Jobe Bellingham, 19, is two years younger than Jude Bellingham, who joined Real Madrid in 2023 after three years at Dortmund. A centerpiece of the England national team, Jude Bellingham has emerged as one of the best players in the world in recent seasons. The younger Jobe Bellingham joined Dortmund in June from Sunderland after their promotion to the English Premier League. He admitted he understood what the perception would be ahead of the move to Germany. “It’s something you do think about.
Before Tuesday’s 7-2 win at the Atlanta Braves, Milwaukee Brewers manager Pat Murphy suggested “most people couldn’t tell you five players on our team.” A look at the standings would indicate more Brewers players soon will be recognized by more fans. After all, it is difficult to overlook a team that not only continues to extend their lead in the National League Central, but also boasts the best record in the majors. “What we’re doing in here right now is special,” right-handed pitcher Freddy Peralta said after allowing only four hits and one run in five innings, while setting a career high with
A baseball team from New Taipei City won the US Pony Palomino Division World Series yesterday in Laredo, Texas, defeating the US West representative team from Azusa, California, 2-1. Ku-Pao Home Economics and Commercial High School earned the right to represent Taiwan in the Pony Palomino (17 to 18 age group) World Series after winning this year's Wang Chen-chih Cup, a competition named after Taiwanese-Japanese baseball legend Wang Chen-chih (王貞治), also known as Sadaharu Oh. In the championship game against Azusa, Ku-Pao's starting pitcher Luo Yu-yan (羅于晏) was erratic early, giving up two hits in the bottom of the first inning, followed
Taiwanese pitcher Teng Kai-wei took the mound in New York on Saturday as the starting pitcher for the San Francisco Giants in his MLB season debut against the New York Mets, pitching 3.1 innings and allowing five runs. The Taiwanese right-hander struggled early, giving up three runs in the bottom of the first inning, including a three-run homer to Mets slugger Pete Alonso — his 250th career home run. However, Teng was not fazed and soon found his footing, holding the Mets scoreless in the bottom of the second and third innings. Meanwhile, Mets starter Kodai Senga of Japan made a few errors
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